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Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
The Permitted Racism Mon Jun 30, 2025 09:00 | Dave Rich If you pride yourself on being an anti-racist, as many people at Glastonbury do, why would you join in a chant of ?Death, death to the IDF?? Maybe you're not the saintly do-gooder you think you are, says Dave Rich.
The post The Permitted Racism appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Africa?s Renewable Leapfrog Is a Dangerous Mirage Mon Jun 30, 2025 07:00 | Tilak Doshi Africa's renewable "leapfrogging" is a dangerous myth that ignores the continent's urgent need for reliable fossil-fuel energy to drive development, warns the Daily Sceptic's Energy Editor.
The post Africa?s Renewable Leapfrog Is a Dangerous Mirage appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Mon Jun 30, 2025 01:35 | Richard Eldred A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Integration Is a Myth ? Bradford?s Parallel Society Is Thriving Sun Jun 29, 2025 19:00 | Richard Eldred The Mirpuri Muslim enclaves in Bradford, argues Richard North, reject integration, exploit British democracy and deepen division ? while those who notice are smeared and silenced.
The post Integration Is a Myth ? Bradford?s Parallel Society Is Thriving appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Police Chief Suspended for Rejecting ?Nonsense? Racism Claims Launches Legal Battle Sun Jun 29, 2025 17:36 | Richard Eldred Suspended for calling racism claims "nonsense", the former head of West Midlands Police Federation is suing his union over what he calls a "witch hunt" and a sinister attack on free speech.
The post Police Chief Suspended for Rejecting ?Nonsense? Racism Claims Launches Legal Battle appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
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Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en
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Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en
The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en Voltaire Network >>
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Good Friday cop-out?
down |
rights, freedoms and repression |
opinion/analysis
Thursday November 20, 2008 18:04 by Gerry Rice gerrice at btopenworld dot com 11 Newcastle Road, Ballynahinch, Co. Down. BT24 8NE 02897562773

The Northern Ireland Assembly was meant to be interdependent. After ten years there is no sign of its being interdependent. Why? I cannot understand how or why, during these past ten years since the signing of The Good Friday Agreement, nobody seems to have recognised, identified with or acted upon arguably the most significant aspect of that Agreement, ratified by a massive majority of the people across the island of Ireland.
Paragraph 3, page 1, states, “We are committed to partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships within Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between these islands.”
This is what I stood for in the General Election in South Down nineteen years earlier. I stood for Interdependence on a budget of less than £200, the only person I believe to have done so in an election in this United Kingdom. At least three universities contacted me after the election to hear more about the notion of Interdependence.
Paragraph 5, page 1, goes on, “We acknowledge the substantial differences between our continuing, and equally legitimate, political aspirations ..... It is accepted that all of the institutional and constitutional arrangements ..... are interlocking and interdependent and that in particular the functioning of the Assembly and the North/South Council are so closely inter-related that the success of each depends on that of the other.”
The Assembly itself is quoted “in particular”, emphasizing that the present Northern Ireland Assembly, especially, CANNOT be interdependent as it is a unilateral entity controlled by the British Government. To be interdependent it must of necessity be bi-lateral and as such MUST be self-determined just as the British Government and the government of the Republic of Ireland are, in order to comply with the Agreement’s demands for “partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships ..... between these islands.”
My one election advertisement stated:
"I seek a self-determined government for the people of Northern Ireland conceived of a bi-lateral declaration of Interdependence between,
1, the people of Northern Ireland and the people of Great Britain and
2, the people of Northern Ireland and the people of the Republic of Ireland,
based on my belief that,
Interdependence assumes a mutual need,
Interdependence needs a mutual demand,
Interdependence demands a mutual supply,
Interdependence supplies a mutual respect,
Interdependence respects a mutual right.
Interdependence - you already practice it, why not vote for it?"
After nearly thirty years the notion of Interdependence is now even more relevant, given the changed status of England, Scotland and Wales, and is a recipe for challenge and contemplation in all five jurisdictions.
Yours faithfully,
Gerry Rice.
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